With the boating season back - it runs from April to November, the issue of pump out stations is again a fresh topic. Recently, when chatting with a Friends of the Bay reception at Sagamore Yacht Club, a boater remarked how great it was when the town's portable pump out station showed up at West Harbor.

"The pump out barge is a good idea" said one boater, "because you have to run your boat daily to charge the battery. So why not go over to the pump out barge."

"The float was so handy. Make it easy for people, don't make it difficult to comply. It bothers us and our friends. The town should make it easier for people to comply with the regulations," he said.

That wish may become a reality, Town spokesperson Phyllis Barry said after a discussion with Town Supervisor John Venditto, who has a plan. "But, you will not see the floating pump out boat this summer. The reason is the town is rethinking its whole approach to this program.

"When we first got the mobile floating pump out barge, the boats had to come to it. There are now boats that have pump out capabilities. A boater can call and say they need a pump out and the boat can come to them. In the off-season, the boat can be used for patrol or conservation programs. The floating pump out has one use, and its very expensive to operate and you have to have one person just sitting there tending it. Additionally, there are breakdowns.

"So we are looking into getting a grant to help us purchase a mobile pump out boat. We are trying to get the floating pump out on the water, but the parts are on back order and we don't know when they will come in," she said. "Last year, only three boats were serviced by the floating pump out station, with a worker sitting there all the time. It cost about $21,000 to service those three persons. So it's not cost effective," she said.

"But remind the boaters that there is a stationary pump out site at the Tappan Marina and at the Theodore Roosevelt Marina all year long."

This past winter the Oyster Bay Marina was dredged which should make it easier for boaters to get to their stationary pump out dock. Previously you had to watch the tide to be able to enter that area. If your boat was too deep, you could get beached in the attempt.

The south shore pump out station at Tobay is in operation for the entire boating season, from May 16 to Sept. 27 and Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays to Sept. 27 to Nov. 2. There are no amenities on the south shore during the winter and there is no storage available there.

On the north shore the official boating season runs from April 25 to Oct. 27, that is the summer season. Boats are allowed to stay at the north shore marinas all year round since the electric and water are on all year round, as are the pump out stations there.

"John Venditto knows how popular boating is and knowing that the floating pump out station that goes to the boaters is a help, he is trying to see that it will become a reality," she said.

John McGrane of the Oyster Bay Marine Center has been considering the question of pumping out heads for some time. He took the questionnaires from the Western Waterfront Steering Committee Meeting held on Oct. 17 at the Oyster Bay High School, and handed them out to boaters, to send on to the committee.

Reading the responses people sent back, he said, "I was amazed at how many people spoke about the lack of pump out facilities and with comments that they are in-operational."

The word in-operational is especially pertinent when talking about the Oyster Bay mobile pump out station.

The Town of Oyster Bay has two mobile pump out stations. "They were not used during last summer because they were vandalized, and the replacement parts are hard to get," said a town spokesperson, "so, we were trying to track them down."

The MPOS was moored at the Town Marina last year. The motor was removed so it can't be stolen. The vandalism was to the mechanical parts of the barge, said the town.

Last year the hours of the Mobile Pump Out Station were from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday between Memorial Day and Labor Day. The MPOS was operated by one person, and was located at the entrance to the boating channel.

According to John McGrane the boating season runs from April to November and boaters start out really early in the morning and tend to come in at dusk. The town's days and times of operation were not enough. Boaters do not follow a 9 to 5 work schedule and they tend to make the most of the season.

The Town of Oyster Bay Mobile Pump Out Station was launched in 1995. Waste from the MPOS is pumped into the stationary POS which is hooked up with the Oyster Bay Sewer District and operated that way with their permission, said the town spokesperson.

The Town got grant for $11,587 for the replacement of the three stationary pump out stations, at Harry Tappen, TR and Tobay, all 24-hour facilities and for the mobile pump out station from New York State in 1995. The money also went toward a fresh water tank for the mobile pump out station. The boaters could then rinse out their tanks after they empty them. That fresh water is also disposed out to the OBSD.

When John McGrane, manager of the Oyster Bay Marine Center and a member of the New York Marine Trades Association addressed the members of the New York State Marine Advisory Commission, some time ago, he urged the committee to recommend more funding to the private sector for pump out stations. He said the private marine industry is in a better position to help boaters use pump out facilities.

Since then, he said, money that was going to the states is starting to filter down to businesses. He said "We can do it much cheaper than any government can. They will assign one person to the job. We can assign one person to sell fuel and take care of the pump out facility."

Mr. McGrane said he was told that someone had stolen the handle of the pump out station. "If something gets vandalized, fix it. It's a joke."

But more importantly, he said, look at the cost for the funding. The money was from the federal government which gave it to the state which gave the town a 75 percent grant.

A point of irritation were the commercials on CBS two years ago, all summer long, they had different councilmen doing commercials on the public pump out station in Oyster Bay and it wasn't even manned. State grants often provide funds for public information about a program.

Mr. McGrane explained that most people haul out in November and that's when most people need the pump out station. "We charge the customers. We drive boats over to Powells Marine in Cold Spring Harbor to pump them out one at time.

"We're not going to pump it out in the bay. We were getting 55 gallon drums, filling them up and driving over to the OBSD plant to empty them."

He said boaters sometimes have no choice. It might be against the law, but at night they will let waste fall into the harbor. "They feel real bad about it. They do it out of necessity only," he said.

"They should privatize the pump out boat. They should lease it out. I would much rather have a competitor. It would be a much better service to the community."

Mr. McGrane said he can get a grant now for a pump out station. He said he would have to put up $15,000 and the state would put in $30,000 or more. "I just don't have an extra $15,000 to put out there, and we are not hooked up to sewers. I cannot run that through the town marina.

"Mitch Kramer from North Shore Dive has a pump out boat he runs in Northport. He is being paid $5 a pump out. He takes his big holding boat and goes to the town dock. They wouldn't let him do that here in the town."

All boats are required to have zero discharge from their holding tank. In spite of that, boats still have plumbing that allow two ways to pump out.

Boaters often go 3 miles out past Montauk to pump out. When going to Bermuda, most boats have a pump that will pump their holding tank into the ocean water.

Most people are considerate enough, they do wait unil they are in the middle of Long Island Sound - it is unwritten agreement.

Mr. McGrane said, "I've been here 10 years now, the marine life is back, the water is cleaner, bird life is more diverse, fiddler crabs are back in all the marshes here. Things are definitely cleaner than years ago.

"I'm sure, the pollution is not from the boaters, maybe 2 percent or 1 percent, but 98 percent is run off and sewage plants from Connecticut," he said.

The harbor is a fragile environment that needs protecting. "A lot of people make a living on the bay. A lot of us are living week to week, day to day. How many people do they say are close to homelessness today," he said. Keeping the harbor clean and viable is important. A lot of people make a living on it.